The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 326: Imported cars are no longer popular?

If many people still felt that the sales of the BMW Sunshine in January 1984 were a fluke, then when the sales volume was still maintained at 1 units in February during the Spring Festival, the impact on everyone would naturally be even greater.

The various supporting factories have already received orders for March in advance, so naturally there is no way to keep this information completely confidential.

"Director Jiang, I heard that your 1.5L engine production capacity has always been insufficient. Would you like to consider cooperation between the two sides and have the Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory assist in the production of some engines?"

Cheng Tao has always been upset about the fact that the Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory did not become a supporting factory for BMW cars.

Especially since the sales of BMW Sunshine are so good, the production plan for March has been scheduled to 3 vehicles, which makes him even more uncomfortable.

Their 2.5L engines are supplied to the Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant, and its current monthly sales volume is around 8000 units, with annual sales volume just exceeding units.

Add to that the diesel engines supplied to the Hummer military vehicles, and the sales volume reaches over 100,000 vehicles a year.

Before last year, this data was already very good, and was considered an excellent performance among domestic professional engine manufacturers.

But now Cheng Tao has already felt the crisis.

On the one hand, sales of Capital Automobile Manufacturing Plant seem to be going down, and it is the main customer of Capital Internal Combustion Engine Plant.

On the other hand, Capital University of Technology is already developing its own high-power diesel engines, and in the future the Capital University of Technology Special Vehicle Factory will build its own engine factory.

This means that a large portion of the engines of the Hummer military vehicles will be taken back for self-production.

The two pieces of bad news combined have made Cheng Tao very uncomfortable.

Now that he was stimulated by the glory of BMW, he naturally couldn't sit still.

"The production equipment and tooling for 1.5L engines are quite different from those for 2.5L engines. Many of the equipment at the Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory probably cannot meet our needs."

"Plus, BMW has already started to introduce new equipment to increase engine production capacity, so we are not considering looking for other supporting factories in the short term."

Jiang Hui refused without any hesitation.

In this situation, if you give Cheng Tao a little hope, the other party will pester him and make him very annoyed.

"If it is difficult to directly supply the entire engine, then can you consider letting us produce some of the engine parts?"

"This can also reduce BMW's investment."

Cheng Tao actually knew that Jiang Hui would never agree to let them produce 1.5L engines, which meant that the other party had to share the engine technology.

One is a state-owned enterprise and the other is a foreign-funded enterprise. It is impossible for the other party to do such a good thing.

So when his request was rejected, he immediately put forward a relatively less excessive proposal.

In a sense, this proposal is his real purpose.

There are many parts in an engine, and it is impossible for any manufacturer to produce all of them by itself.

In this way, the Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory naturally has an opportunity.

Many other factories are considering similar things.

"We can ask BMW to consider this and see if there are any parts whose production capacity and demand can match each other."

I have just rejected it once, so it is obviously not appropriate to reject this request again.

In addition, BMW does need to develop some new supporting manufacturers, so there is no problem in allowing the Capital Internal Combustion Engine Factory to enter its own supply system.

Anyway, when BMW's sales increase in the future, it will be impossible to find only one supporting factory to produce all kinds of parts.

"Then I will arrange for sales, technical and R&D personnel to go to BMW to exchange ideas and visit the personnel in the purchasing department, technical department and other departments so that we can discuss the specific parts situation."

After hearing Jiang Hui's words, Cheng Tao breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to implement this matter as soon as possible.

Otherwise, there are many manufacturers eyeing BMW car orders, and it would be a pity if their orders were snatched away by others.

……

"Mr. Li, the car dealership said that a batch of Crowns have arrived, and the price is several tens of thousands cheaper than last year. Do you want any more?"

As the purchasing manager of Baiyun Taxi Company, Wang Dali has always had a good relationship with the car dealerships.

So even though he knew that the company's current taxi purchases had shifted to BMW's BMW Light, he still gritted his teeth and reported to Li Baiyun.

After all, the taxi industry is now divided into different levels. The taxi prices of imported cars such as Crown and Teana are different from those of BMW Sunbeam.

Theoretically speaking, Baiyun Taxi Company still has a certain demand for Crown and other cars.

"I don't buy a car that costs 30,000 yuan, but I buy an imported car that costs 300,000 yuan. Are you stupid or am I stupid?"

After several months of trial operation, Li Baiyun's attitude towards BMW Light has changed greatly.

So far, there have been no major problems with the 100 BMW Lights they have used.

Occasionally, some minor problems were discovered and BMW solved them very quickly.

In order to better serve customers, BMW even set up a special sales and repair shop in Yangcheng. Whenever there is a problem with the BMW Light of Baiyun Taxi Company, they can go there directly for repair.

Non-operating vehicles are provided with free warranty within one year.

Operating vehicles also have a six-month warranty period.

This made Li Baiyun extremely confident in BMW Light.

"From a purely price perspective, the BMW Light is definitely more cost-effective."

"But the comfort of the Crown and Duke is much higher than that of the BMW Sunshine, and some foreign businessmen cannot accept the BMW Sunshine."

"I think it is necessary to keep some Crown and other luxury cars as taxis."

Having eaten the meal and drunk the wine invited by the other party, Wang Dali naturally had to put in some effort.

Anyway, he felt that his reasons for persuasion had some truth to them and were not just nonsense.

"I will focus on the type of car that makes the most money."

"If other taxi companies feel it's more classy to operate Crown, then let them do it."

For the boss, making money is the most important thing.

Nowadays, people don’t pay much attention to whether a product is branded or not.

If you can’t survive, who would care about the brand?
Besides, since the BMW Light taxi started operating, the number of people taking taxis in Guangzhou has actually been increasing every month.

This is very beneficial to the development of the entire taxi industry.

Therefore, even if the price of each taxi ride has dropped, considering the lower cost of buying a car and the higher frequency of car use, the Baiyun Taxi Company actually earns more money.

Li Baiyun naturally asked the financial staff to calculate the specific data.

Otherwise, my current attitude wouldn’t be so firm.

"Then...then I'll tell the car dealership that we don't need their crowns and dukes anymore?"

Seeing that Li Baiyun's attitude was very firm, Wang Dali didn't dare to say too much.

It would be bad if the boss thought I was a traitor.

The same situation actually happens in other taxi companies.

It can be said that the sales of cars such as Crown and Duke in China have dropped a lot. These data are naturally also reflected in Toyota.

……

"Yu Sang, the sales data for the past two months have been declining year-on-year, and the decline is still increasing. Have you figured out the reason?"

As the general manager of Toyota's Minato City branch, Watanabe Tsuneichi lived a very comfortable life in the past few years.

Although the market in Gangcheng is not very big, as the general manager of a branch company, I do have a bit of the flavor of a provincial governor.

The head office is not so concerned about the sales of Gangcheng. After all, compared with the sales of branches in Japan, America, Europe and other countries, Gangcheng is totally not enough.

As long as he completes the sales target set at the beginning of the year on time every quarter, he will have little pressure.

However, as the 1983 fiscal year was coming to an end, the situation began to change, and he began to worry that he would not be able to complete the task in the next fiscal year.

Fortunately, Japan's fiscal year is from April to March of the following year. At least in the 4 fiscal year, he did not need to worry about a year-on-year decline in overall sales.

But it was hard to say about fiscal year 1984, so when he saw the data for February and March continued to decline, he immediately became anxious.

"Mr. Watanabe, the situation has been basically clarified. In fact, the sales of our various models in Hong Kong have not changed much. They basically remain at the same level as last year."

"The main difference is in the export."

"Through various formal or informal channels, nearly half of our Gangcheng branch's sales last year were contributed by exports to the mainland."

"Especially for the Crown models, 70% of them entered the mainland market through various channels."

"But for some reason, the demand for Crown models in the mainland has dropped significantly in the past two months. Whether it is through formal or informal channels, people are not very enthusiastic about purchasing Crown."

"Dealers have naturally sensed this situation, so they are now more cautious about picking up cars."

Shawn Yue has naturally noticed the company's declining sales.

As the head of the sales department and deputy general manager, the main reason why Shawn Yue was able to gain the trust of Watanabe Tsuneichi was that he could keep Toyota's sales in Hong Kong increasing.

Watanabe Tsuneshige only cares about the results and not the process.

So even though he knew that some Crown and other car models had left Hong Kong City through informal or even illegal channels, he didn't care.

Now that sales data can no longer go up, the situation is naturally different.

"Didn't the news say that after the reforms in mainland China, the economy has been developing very well in recent years, and the demand for various products is increasing?"

"There are a lot more bosses from Hong Kong City opening factories in Shenzhen City next door, right?"

Watanabe Tsuneichi obviously didn't quite understand Shawn Yue's answer.

In his opinion, the number of car models exported to the mainland should increase.

Now that Chinese people have money, shouldn’t they buy more cars?

"That's true. I also find it very strange, so I'm planning to go to the neighboring city of Shencheng next week to investigate and see if I can get more information."

Shawn Yue knew that if he didn't take any action today, Watanabe Tsuneichi would definitely not let him go.

As a sales branch, the biggest problem is the decline in sales.

If they don't figure out the reason and there is no way to reverse the situation, then both of them will have a hard time in the future.

The Japanese headquarters does not pay much attention to Hong Kong City, because the Hong Kong City branch does not cause any trouble every year and the goals are achieved very well.

Once this situation changes, the attention from headquarters will naturally change as well.

At that time, Watanabe Tsunekazu might need to return to China to report, or the headquarters might directly arrange someone to investigate.

"It is indeed necessary to go to the scene and exercise the spirit of the Three Presentism to find out the reason."

"Please arrange it as soon as possible. I will go with you."

"It would be best to contact the investment department in Shenzhen in the name of investment investigation. This would be more convenient."

Watanabe Tsuneichi has been in Hong Kong for so many years that he is relatively familiar with many situations.

At present, most of the foreign-funded enterprises in Shenzhen are invested by bosses from Hong Kong.

Shenzhen also regularly holds some investment promotion activities in Hong Kong.

Shawn Yue naturally had no objection to Watanabe Tsuneichi's arrangement, nor did he dare to have any objection.

Originally it was an excuse, thinking that I could just hang out in Shenzhen for a few days to complete the mission.

Now it seems that we need to conduct a thorough investigation and truly understand the situation.

Fortunately, although it is inconvenient for people in Shenzhen to go to Hong Kong at this time, there is still a convenient passage for people in Hong Kong to come to Shenzhen for inspection.

Just a week later, Watanabe Tsunekazu and Shawn Yue set foot on the land of Shenzhen.

"I asked car dealers these days and found out that among all our car models, the Crown sedan is the most exported."

"After these models arrived in Shenzhen and other places, in addition to some being purchased by Chinese government agencies as official vehicles, most of them were bought by some newly emerging self-employed individuals."

"At the same time, taxi companies in various places are also considered major purchasing customers."

"This time, our inspection will focus on the changes in these three markets."

Shawn Yue has obviously done his homework these days, otherwise if Watanabe Tsuneichi asked him nothing, he would have to worry about whether the position under his butt was stable.

Don’t think that Japanese companies will not lay off employees easily and that they can survive forever.

If someone wants you to leave, they will naturally find various ways to disgust you.

"The Crowns purchased by the relevant departments of Huaxia are all models purchased through formal channels. The prices are very high and few units can afford them."

"There is no expectation for the sales volume of this segment in the future."

"Purchasing by individuals and taxi companies is the market that is most affected."

Watanabe Tsunekazu is not so easy to fool.

He usually doesn't care much about the company's affairs. He is always looking for all kinds of fun and living a life of debauchery.

But when it came to his own future, he still did some serious research.

After hearing what Watanabe Tsuneichi said, Shawn Yue felt even more pressured.

Led by the reception staff of the Investment Promotion Office, the two of them took a tour around Shenzhen to experience the changes in the city.

However, during this process, Watanabe Tsuneichi felt the changes.

"I saw taxis on the street, mainly Crown, Duke and a model I didn't recognize. The Crown and Duke models generally didn't look new, but the model, which was made by an unknown car company, looked very new."

Watanabe Tsuneichi was not blind, so he naturally noticed the various vehicle information on the streets of Shenzhen.

This is a common problem among people in the automotive industry. When they arrive at a place, they habitually observe the vehicles on the street.

Not to mention that Watanabe Tsunekazu came here this time to confirm the reason for the decline in sales of Crown sedans, so naturally more attention should be paid.

(End of this chapter)